Spotlight

Spotlight, which is brand-new in Mac OS X 10.4, makes Finder searching available in the menu bar, no matter which application is active. Simply click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar (Figure 19) and enter a search word or phrase. Spotlight displays a menu of matches (Figure 20) or a window that lists all of the matches (Figure 21).

Figure 19. Clicking the Spotlight icon in the menu bar displays Spotlight's search field.

Figure 20. As you enter a word or phrase in the search field, Spotlight displays results in a menu.

Figure 21. Choosing Show All from Spotlight's menu of found items displays the items in a window like this.

Tips

• The new Spotlight preferences pane enables you to set options to control the types of files that appear in Spotlight results. I tell you more about these options in Chapter 21.

• Spotlight also works within certain Mac OS X applications, such as System Preferences. I explain how to use Spotlight with System Preferences in Chapter 21.

To find items with Spotlight

1.	Click the Spotlight icon on the far right end of the menu bar. The Spotlight search field appears (Figure 19).
2.	Enter a search word or phrase in the search field. Spotlight immediately begins displaying matches for what you enter in a menu beneath the search field (Figure 20).
3.	To open one of the items in the menu, click that item. or To display a window that lists all of the items Spotlight found (Figure 21), choose Show All from Spotlight's menu of found items.

Tip

• In step 1, you can press to activate the Spotlight search field.